India, Jan. 6 -- The Madras High Court's Madurai Division Bench on Tuesday upheld a single judge's order allowing lighting of a lamp atop the Thiruparankundram Hills in Madurai, allowing the ritual to proceed while dismissing the state government's objections.

A division bench of Justices G Jayachandran and KK Ramakrishnan upheld a December 1 order of single judge Justice GR Swaminathan of the Madurai bench, which directed that a lamp be lit atop the hill as part of the Tamil Karthigai Deepam festival.The division bench held that the State and the district administration had failed to establish that the lighting of the lamp was not part of Tamil tradition.

It also rejected the state's claim that the ritual would disturb law and order, c...